What’s Wrong with This Picture?

The Franciscans are employing armed guards at the Portiuncula to keep beggars away.

“A Texas Sized Mess!”

NARLA blog on the FLDS matter.

Fire at Little Portion Hermitage

A fire at Little Portion Hermitage in Eureka Springs, AR, destroyed the chapel and the common building. John Michael Talbot, the founder of the community, reports here and here. I’ve been there many times, as I was a member of the “domestic expression” of the community for about 15 years.

“Plastic Medicine Men”

Diogenes points to some New Age goings on being advertised by the Catholic Action Network–come be Indian for a day.

I’m reminded of a pastors’ workshop held at Gettysburg Lutheran Seminary a year or so after I graduated. It, too, promised an immersion in “authentic Native American spirituality,” concluding with a sweat lodge. I laughed at the image in my mind of a couple dozen overweight Germans huddled together in the dark in their skivvies (or less).

Here’s a statement of some Lakota leaders letting us know in plain language what they think about this appropriation of their religious traditions.